Swapping our places
by GirlDressedInBlack
Summary: The Mistress had only one option open to her. One single thing she could do. It's where she has always been going so she continues on. Standing with him. Falling.
1. Chapter 1

The trees are still as she falls. Fake.

The ground closes in and she feels the impact reverberate through her arms before they give way, sending the face into greenery that is anything but real.

"You see, Missy. This is where we've always been going. This is our perfect ending. We shoot ourselves in the back." Says the other her. Him. The one who tastes of explosions and burning and the death of countless people.

People.

A murderer.

Even himself- he couldn't resist.

But it's okay.

She laughs at the acceptance.

It's okay.

With the last of her strength she pushes herself up and watches him.

He laughs back and she can't hate him even as he rejoices in her death.

And he leaves.

The strength gives and she drops herself back down into the overgrowth, knowing it's fake and letting the sensation of grass and earth and the gentle wind flitting over her fade from her mind.

This is her perfect ending.

This is where she has always been going.

She had known as soon as she had stepped foot on this ship. Where she was going.

The sky is blue and false above her. Unreal. It reminds her of the Doctor's eyes.

The Doctor who she is dying for. Standing with. Falling when she stands.

She had felt the Master's rage and anger and want to destroy running through her, unable to influence her any more, filtered as it was by thousands upon thousands of years more of experiences.

He was going to kill the Doctor.

Five more minutes- ten more minutes- a week- a year.

Time meant nothing and everything.

All that it would take is the right time. Just a few seconds where it was perfect and the Doctor would have died.

The Master would have prolonged his time on the ship just to destroy him. The Mistress knew his mind intimately. Revenge and burning passion and so much hate.

There was only one thing she could have done. Only one option left she was willing to take.

This was it.

Sacrifice.

She is standing with the Doctor.

She has fallen for the Doctor.

What more could she do?

So this. This is her perfect ending.

Standing in for the Doctor's death.

It's where she's always been headed.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor steps out of the Tardis into the now silent ship.

She walks over debris which crunches under her feet. It sounds like the false dead leaves strewn on the floor but the give is far too strong, too sudden as scorched bits of metal break apart.

She isn't sure what has brought her here. It's desolate and she went to pick up Nardole and all those kids years ago. There's nothing here for her.

Still she finds herself wandering, boots heavy as she walks in this fake environment which is just about still managing to keep itself going.

Perhaps it's for a reminder.

The Master left her again in the end.

She thinks she should have expected it- should have known somehow that the Master never changes so much.

 _It had seemed so promising though_. The Doctor muses, kicking a piece of cyberman with her right foot.

She had hated seeing Missy cry, making her cry again and again and again. It had been awful and there had been so many times where they'd just went straight up to their office afterwards and sat with their head in their hands, wondering whether they had done the right thing.

Despite that she had seemed better in some way. Her thoughts- though as chaotic as always- seemed to have been shifting away from darker things. She had softened in so many ways, still dangerous but much less interested in actively hurting people.

Her humour hadn't shifted from that darkness but maybe that would have come with time if she had stayed.

If she had stayed.

The Doctor sighs, pushing her hair behind her ear as she looks into the fading sky through which it was easy to see the metal ceiling above.

What would have become of them if she had stayed?

After a few moments the Doctor continues, striding purposelessly through the remnants of trees and scattered cyberman parts.

There's nothing for her here yet she keeps walking until she sees ahead of her that lift they had found among all the foliage.

She heads towards it, walking slowly with hands deep in her pockets.

It's untarnished, gleaming as she approaches and runs a hand over the cold metal of its surface.

"You weren't much use in the end, were you?" She asks as if it were an old friend.

The lift doesn't respond as the Doctor walks around it, fingers trailing across it.

As she turns she sees a sight that stops her dead. Her hand drops to her side as she stares, vision moving out of focus.

She can't compute it- can't understand.

It's impossible, isn't it?

With heavy feet she carefully steps closer then she's standing, looking down at the things which she can't comprehend.

Her lips part, hair covering her face as she swallows.

"Missy."

The body lays still.

Gently the woman falls, sitting and then laying down beside her best friend. She rests her forehead against the side of Missy's cheek, curling a palm around the other woman's still arm as she cries softly.


End file.
